The Finals are a few hours away and it seemed to me that upon further review these NBA playoffs have been full of compelling story lines, but not great series. Only one has gone to Game 7. We need a great series here.

Check it out ...

WEST FIRST ROUND

No. 8 Grizzlies d. No. 1 Spurs 4-2Fantastic, and very NCAA-ish. We never see upsets like this, so this alone makes these NBA playoffs at least semi memorable.

No. 4 OKC d. No. 5 Nuggets 4-1Why anyone thought the Nuggets could make a serious push after trading Melo and Billups was smoking whatever George Karl was selling, which apparently is some good stuff.

No. 3 Mavs d. No. 6 Blazers 4-2Other than the Game 4 meltdown by the Mavs this series wasn't close.

No. 2 Lakers d. No. 7 Hornets 4-2Chris Paul was dominant, but didn't have enough toys around him. The Lakers were showing the cracks we weren't aware of just yet.

EAST FIRST ROUND No. 1 Bulls d. No. 8 Pacers 4-1Every game but Game 5 was close but the Pacers had no closers.

No. 5 Hawks d. No. 4 Magic 4-2Can't care about Hawks basketball.

No. 3 Celtics d. No. 7 Knicks 4-0Compelling to see the Knicks get destroyed. Game 1 was fun, the rest sucked.

No. 2 Heat d No. 7 76ers 4-1I didn't know Philly had a basketball team any more until I came across this series.

EAST SECOND ROUND No. 2 Heat d. No. 3 Celtics 4-1Compelling to watch age officially catch the Celts. The celebration the Heat threw after winning this series suggested they didn't get it. They obviously do.

No. 1 Bulls d. No. 5 Hawks 4-2Hawks made it interesting but the Bulls still had enough at this point.

EAST FINALSNo. 2 Heat d. No. 1 Bulls 4-1Compelling because everything the Heat does right now is must-see TV. Everyone wants to see them lose.

So as we can see from this recap these playoffs have had a good number of competitive games and fun story lines because of the personalities and teams involved, but other than one series it's been pretty one-sided.

FORT WORTH - There may not be a better promoter for his sport or his place of business than Eddie Gossage for Texas Motor Speedway. He is auto racing's PT Barnum. And what he's trying to do to infuse interest when the Indy cars come to TMS in less than two weeks for the Twin 275s is an original concept: Two races in one night. Slick idea. Always have to like Eddie's willingness to try anything. Don't be surprised if Eddie trains a mule to race a car one day.

"To do slightly shorter races is something we're excited about," said Indy car driver Dan Wheldon, who made an appearance in downtown Fort Worth at Frankie's Sports Bar.It's a great idea to drum up interest by flying Wheldon down here two days after he won one of the more interesting finishes in Indy 500 history."It's very important for the fans to see this and how this (new format) plays out."

Indeed.

But everyone at TMS needs to dial back their expectations on this. Waning interest in open wheel racing is not going to be fixed by running a pair of short races a few minutes apart under the lights. It may help, and it should give TMS a hook on the open wheel schedule after Indy, but this isn't a cure all.

What ails open wheel racing is if it's not Indy, not many people care leaving people like Gossage and other track promoters to sell gimmicks not the sport itself.

Drawing 65,000 to 75,000 for a sporting event, even if that means there are still tons of empties, is a big deal. The race at TMS may be the best on the Indy schedule - although it's going to have a hard time trumping this recent Indy 500 - and it's well worth a trip to watch fast, competitive racing.

It pains me to say this as someone who grew up going to the Indianapolis 500 practices, time trials and the race itself - open wheel racing has become merely a niche sport tracked mostly by gear heads. The damage done by former IRL and Indy Motor Speedway president Tony George and the CART fools has forced the circuit to try zany, wacky promotions. The sport isn't enough.

When a driver on your circuit who has won exactly one race is your sport's biggest name - Danica - it's a problem. I don't know who any of these guys are any more.

The Indy 500 champion doesn't even have a guaranteed ride for this event.

"I won't have to put my fists up with Danica," Wheldon joked today at the event with Gossage. He and Danica had a spat a few years ago.

Several months back I tweeted something along the lines that no NBA title team can have DeShawn Stevenson as a starter.

Swiiiiiing batter. Major league whiff.

Perhaps I was bitter; Stevenson was supposed to attend my alma mater - Kansas - out of high school but elected to go straight to the Association. Does he not realize the education he missed on?

The guy is in the league 10 years, made some serious jack in the process, and is a starter on a team in the NBA Finals. Ouch.

Stevenson has started all 15 Mavs postseason games, averages 3.5 points in 15.3 minutes in the playoffs. Stevenson is not much of a threat to score, but the guy guards people and is simply not afraid. Not being afraid is a big deal for coaches, mostly because the coach has to believe his player won't go No. 2 in his shorts during the big moments.

Stevenson is no Dirk, but the guy certainly made me eat it this season.

One of the problems of covering a team on a daily basis is that your bias eventually seeps through. Look at the local coverage of either the Heat or the Mavs and most "experts" are picking their local team.

If you are a beat writer, this can be a business decision. When the Cowboys were coached by Wade Phillips both he and his players would know what writer picked against them on a given day, and express their disappointment the day after the game if they won and they were picked to lose.Pro jocks seldom understand that just because a writer picks a team to lose means we don't like them, or wish failure upon them. It's just a prediction.

If you have a good relationship with the player or coach, you may just hope they win and pick with your heart. And it can work vice versa.

05/30/2011

Upon further review, how the NBA handed Pat Riley a co-executive of the year award devalues what GMs across this league actually do to build teams. It's slap in face to anyone who Bulls GM Gar Forman, who won the award along with Riley.

What Heat czar Pat Riley did was not team building in the true sense. It was a long process of agreed collusion between Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. Just because it didn't violate the collusion in the sense of owners agreeing to screw players out of big deals (see Major League Baseball) doesn't mean the act didn't take place, or that Riley really built anything.

The guy who built the Miami Heat is Dwyane Wade, and South Beach. Without Wade lobbying his former Team USA buddies years ago this team doesn't happen. If Miami is in Milwaukee, this team doesn't happen.

This is what Pat Riley essentially did: Told Wade to tell his buddies they can come to Miami for a little bit less cash than what they would receive elsewhere, and he would find a couple of spare parts who are slightly above average. And when LeBron's "team" came for a visit, Riley said here is how much we can give you, and we'll set up your professional friends with fake jobs, too.

05/29/2011

The last time the Mavs played the Heat in the NBA Finals a local radio station in South Beach came up with this great giveaway to stop Dirk:

Fans held these hand-held "signs" to throw off Dirk at the foul line. Must have worked; the Heat went 3-0 at home in the series.

790 The Ticket in Miami read the same story we all did back in '06: Dirk sang to himself to calm himself down in pressure situations.The artist he hummed to himself is, of course, David Hasselhoff. Never have understand The Hoff's iconic status in Germany, but it's a living. Good for him.

Will the Heat use The Hoff again to throw off Dirk?

And will it matter?

Dirk appears so locked in they could have Hasselhoff guard him and it may not work. Although that would be a fun matchup to see.

Do yourself a favor, watch this wonderful video of The Hoff killing it with "Looking for Freedom".

05/28/2011

DALLAS - The NBA and the NHL Finals will begin in a few days, yet they continue to differ on their approach on frequent flyer milers.

Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki prefers to go the way of the NHL, which uses 2-2-1-1-1. The NBA uses that format for every series but the Finals.

Dirk sounds like a man who believes had the NBA had the NHL format back in 2006 perhaps the Mavs/Heat Finals would have been different.If you recall the Mavs took a 2-0 series lead before going to Miami. The Heat won the next two at home, and then barely won Game 5 in Miami that completely crushed the Mavs.

"I said it the last time we were there, to me Game 5 is one of the biggest games of the series and I don't like it to be on the road if you have the better record. I said that in '06," Dirk said. "We ended up losing Game 5 by one point or whatever. Had a tough call down the stretch. I don't know if it would have gone that way if we were at home. But I understand the flying back and forth for five, six or seven especially in LA and Boston. That's a lot of flying. I like Game 5 with the team that has the better record. It's big. You don't want to come back here 0-2. That's really no series."

(Have to like the shot at the refs).

The NBA's approach is to think every Finals is Boston v. LA, and West Coast vs. East Coast.The distance between LA and Boston is about 2,600 miles. This is a punishing flight, especially West to East. Because of the time change, you basically lose an entire day to air travel.

The Boston Bruins will fly 2,500 miles to Vancouver for the Cup Finals. They could make this trip as many as three times in a seven-game series.

Dallas to Miami is a more doable 1,107 miles.

What the two leagues should do is employ a case-by-case use of 2-2-1-1-1 for a Finals format. Nothing is set in stone until the teams are decided anyway, and from a TV or media standpoint it won't matter. No one buys tickets until the teams or locked in.

If a Finals is between right coast vs. left coast, use 2-3-2. If a Finals is between two more centrally located cities, such as Dallas and Miami, go 2-2-1-1-1.